Child&#39;s safety belt



Sept. 11, 1951 M. A. RAHE 2,567,400

CHILDS SAFETY BELT Filed May 21, 1949 INVENTOFL Nqry A. Rake H51 Arroqwwsy Patented Sept. 11, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,507,400 7 f I CHILDS SAFETY BELT Mary A. Rahe, Mount Pleasant, Iowa 7 Application May 21, 1949, Serial No. 94,693

1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to a safety belt for infants and more particularly to an improved form of safety guard forholding infants and young children in a highchair or similar article of furniture.

It is a well-known fact thatevery year numerous cases of death or serious injury are caused as a result of falls received by the children or infants from a highchair or other chair in which they have been placed and left unattended. This is particularly true of the younger children from less than a year in age up to three years of age, since the child of this age is especially active and yet does not have the coordination necessary to prevent such falls. A number of various harnesses or devices have been designed which may to some extent securely hold a child in a chair. However, these have been largely unsatisfactory due to the complete restriction and confinement placed on the childs movements or because of certain unsafe features which allow the child to become entangled therein or to squirm or twist out of the harness thereby nullifying its safety features.

It is, therefore, an object of my invention to provide a simple safety guard for infants for use with a customary childrens highchair.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a simple one-piece, inexpensive safety guard for young children which will securely hold the child in a chair without discomfort to the child.

It is still another object of my invention .to provide a simple, washable fabric guard for securing young children in a highchair from which the child cannot extricate himself nor become dangerously entangled therein.

My invention will be best understood from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawin and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a full length front view of my safety guard showing a general shape and construction thereof. Figure 2 shows a portion of the ends of the guard as shown in Fi ure 1 and illustrates a modified form of adjustable fastening device. Figure 3 shows the general shape of the guard with the fastening ends secured together and Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the guard secured to a highchair and as it would appear in use for restraining a young child in the chair.

Referring now to Figure 1 of the drawing, I have shown a safety guard which consists of an elongated band of fabric I which may be muslin, canvas or other suitable washable material and which ,shouldhavesufficient body and weight to enable it tomaintain its shape. The band is provided with arm holes 2 and 3 which are formed therein and spaced so as to approximate the correct measurement'of the small child of the one to four year age group. The upper edge of the guard l contouredas shown and formed with the depressed center portion 4 which lies adjacent to the chest and neck of the child so that chafing at this point .will be eliminated. The band is formed with a tapered left end 5 and right end 6, each of which includes thereon one member of a complementary fasting device which may be, forexample'the snap fasteners l and 8. This type of fastener issuitable for the guard since it is easily applied to the fabric and will withstand considerable force ina lateral direction once they have been securely fastened. In order 'to preventravelling or deterioration of the cut edges of the fabric band I, it will be noted that all edges have been completely stitched as well as the internal edges surrounding the arm holes and that double stitching has been provided at the ends to give increased strength at this point.

In order to prevent the child from standing up in the chair and thereby sliding the restraining band up and down along the back of the chair, fastening means consisting of a pair of fabric tapes 9 and ill have been secured to the lower edge of the band at the point H which point should correspond with the portion of the band that is adjacent to either the right or left arm of the highchair when in use. Thus the tapes may be looped around the arm of the highchair and tied to prevent any vertical movement of the band with the result that the child is prevented from standing up in the chair.

Figure 2 shows an alternate form of fastening device which may be used in place of the snap fasteners 'l and 8 particularly when it is desired that the circumference of the safety guard be adjustable to accommodate for different sized children or different sizes of the children's furniture with which it may be used. The alternative fastening in Figure 2 takes the form of a conventional buckle l2 and belt l3 secured respectively to the ends 5 and 6 of the safety band, thereby providing a wide range of adjustment in the length or circumference of the band. It will be obvious that a number of forms of fastening means other than those illustrated may be used, depending on whether or not it is desired to have the length of the band adjustable.

Figure 3 illustrates the band as viewed from 3 the front with the fastening means secured in the back and will illustrate how the band conforms to the configuration of the child's body and thereby eliminates any discomfort to the child while it is in use.

Figure 4 illustrates the use of the safety guard as applied to the conventional child's highchair ll. It will be noted that the back portion of the band which carries the fastening means I and 8 extends behind the back of the highchair ll and the circumference of the band should be such that the child is loosely held against the back of the highchair which for very young children is an advantage in that proper support is given to the childs back while sitting in the chair. The fabric tapes 9 and 10 are then looped around the arm I of the highchair and tied on the under side thereby securely anchoring the safety guard to the position as shown in Figure 4 and preventing the child from standingup or from possibly working the back portion of the band up and over the back of the highchair 14.

Since the safety guard is preferably made 01' washable fabric, the sanitary considerations present no problem as spilled food may be easily washed from the band; and by the use of a substantial fabric, it has been found that the band will retain its shape throughout a lengthy period of use and many launderings.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have provided an improved form of safety guard for use in restraining small children in highchair-s or other chairs which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and which combines the advantages of being absolutely safe and fool-proof in use, thereby permitting the child to be left unattended for periods of time and, at the same time not presenting any discomfort to the child,

While I have shown and described a particular embodiment of my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from my inventionin its broad aspects and I. therefore, aim in the appended claim to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A safety belt for restraining a child in a high chair comprising an elongated fabric band tapering to a reduced width at each end thereof, a

7 pair of centrally spaced arm-receiving apertures in said band, snap-acting complementary fastening means at each end of said band, and means affixed to the lower edge of said band and adjacent to one of said apertures for securing said band to said highchair, said last mentioned means including a pair of fabric tapes secured to said band by stitching.

MARY A. RARE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record. in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

